A Week of Fire and Ice

That barricades remain a brutal but effective final resort for desperate citizens was amply on display this past week, not only in Ukraine, where President Viktor F. Yanukovych appeared finally to surrender, but also in Venezuela, where the batons and tear gas of riot police officers failed to quell anti-government demonstrations, and in Thailand, where the police engaged in bloody efforts to clear sites occupied by protesters since late November.

The images of fires and riot police officers pummeling demonstrators contrasted with those from Sochi of swirling skaters and daredevil skiers. But it was not all celebration in the melting snows of the Caucasus, as a few surprise results brought some kvetching not in keeping with the Olympic spirit.

Peace in Ukraine, for Now

The three-month occupation of central Kiev that began when Mr. Yanukovych canceled a deal that would have drawn Ukraine closer to the European Union erupted in a paroxysm of violence this past week, taking at least 75 lives and raising fears that the country was headed for civil war. After nightlong negotiations with opposition leaders and three European Union foreign ministers, the embattled Ukrainian president agreed Friday morning to the formation of a coalition government, a reduction in presidential powers and presidential elections no later than December.

The agreement was essentially a total surrender by Mr. Yanukovych. But even if the deal does put an end to the violence, huge problems lie ahead.

Ukraine remains bitterly divided. It is not certain that the fragmented citizenry, radicalized by rebellion, will follow the opposition leaders. The most experienced, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, is closely allied with the imprisoned former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko; Vitali Klitschko is a former heavyweight boxing champion who entered politics relatively recently on an anticorruption platform; Oleg Tyagnibok is a fiery ultranationalist who was expelled from his parliamentary faction in 2004 for a speech denouncing “the Moscow-Jewish mafia ruling Ukraine.”

The ranks of the triumphant opposition may soon be increased by the return of Ms. Tymoshenko. In yet another reflection of Mr. Yanukovych’s fall from power, the Ukrainian Parliament voted overwhelmingly to clear the way for the release of his rival from prison, where she has been held since August 2011.

Then there’s the Ukrainian economy, which is already in tatters and could be torn to shreds by a vindictive Moscow. President Vladimir V. Putin must be furious that the Ukrainian crisis came to a head during an Olympic production he intended as a showcase of his new Russia; he is probably even more livid at what he perceives as a European victory in the tug of war for Ukraine.

Mr. Putin will not take this setback graciously. He will certainly not pay out any more of the $15 billion in aid he promised Ukraine in December. He could also demand higher energy prices and choke off trade.

All this poses a challenge for the West. The role of the foreign ministers of Poland, Germany and France in mediating the peace deal is undoubtedly a source of satisfaction for the European Union. But it and the United States will now be under intense pressure to prop up Ukraine’s foundering economy.

The Barricades Abroad

The battles in Venezuela and Thailand had different causes and captured fewer headlines, but they followed a similar trajectory of escalating violence.

In Venezuela, what began as student protests against a list of festering problems, from rampant crime to shortages of basic goods, has grown into a revolt against a government that under Hugo Chávez and even more under his successor, Nicolás Maduro, has choked off dissent. The protests turned violent in recent days: Four people have been shot dead, dozens wounded and scores arrested. Mr. Maduro’s response has been to crack down even more, expel three United States diplomats and arrest an opposition politician, Leopoldo López.

In Thailand, at least four people were killed when the police tried to reclaim sites in Bangkok occupied by protesters since late last year. The clashes are a continuation of a long-festering power struggle between rural, conservative supporters of the ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and younger, educated middle-class Thais. Mr. Thaksin has stayed out of Thailand since 2008, but his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, is the current prime minister. Anti-Thaksin forces took to the streets in November when Ms. Yingluck proposed an amnesty bill that they thought was an attempt to bring her brother back.

Sore Losers in Sochi

As the weather in Sochi turned ominously warm, the main Olympic story line was what ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” called the “agony of defeat.”

There was the Russian men’s hockey team, which had been charged by no less than President Putin to restore glory to the host country after 22 years without hockey gold. The team seemed invincible, with more N.H.L. stars even than Canada. And yet it was eliminated 3-1 by Finland.

The reaction on Russian websites was hot enough to melt what remained of the Caucasus ice, and much of it focused on Coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s failure to turn a batch of superstars into a team. Mr. Bilyaletdinov, it will be recalled, played on the 1980 Soviet team that lost to the United States in the legendary “Miracle on Ice,” so the grilling at the postgame news conference must have been especially painful: “What future, if any, do you see for your own work and for your coaching staff? Because, you know, your predecessor was eaten alive after the Olympics...” “Well then, eat me alive right now.”

But then the Russians also enjoyed victory when one of their figure skaters, 17-year-old Angelina Sotnikova, came out of the blue to take the gold from the great Kim Yu-na of South Korea. Ms. Sotnikova seemed as surprised as everyone else, and all the old questions about the arcane and secretive judging of a sport that is also an art were raised again. But Ms. Kim took it graciously.

Which cannot be said for fans of the Canadian ice dancing pair Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Their second-place finish to the Americans, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, set off a chorus of indignation in the Canadian media. To my utterly untrained eye, the Americans were simply a bit better, but fans of the Canadians did not agree and turned their ire on the coach, Marina Zoueva, who, incredibly, is shared by both pairs. “We felt like sometimes she wasn’t in our corner,” Mr. Moir said in one interview, a quote that quickly grew into a case against Ms. Zoueva.

In something as subjective as figure skating, explained Paul Wylie, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist, a lot has to do with winning the crowd. Figure skaters have to simply “learn to live” with that.

Serge Schmemann is a member of the editorial board of The New York Times.